NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene volleyball battled back to force a fifth set after going down 2-0, but Western Oregon held off a full Nighthawks comeback to take the fifth frame and win the match.
NNU moves to 7-7 on the season and 3-3 in GNAC action.
The Nighthawks would hold late leads in both of the first two sets, but the Wolves finished strong in each frame to take victories of 25-22 and 25-21.
The third set was not nearly as close, as NNU came alive to take leads of 12-7, 19-9, and 22-10 before claiming the set 25-16 on a
Londyn Giles kill.
The momentum remained on NNU's side for set four, with the home team jumping out to a 12-4 advantage. Western Oregon started chipping away and rallied late, though, cutting the deficit all the way down to one at 24-23. Giles put the set away for NNU, however, with another kill to send the match to a fifth frame.
Despite dropping the fourth set, Western Oregon kept the momentum from their comeback attempt as they built out an 11-5 lead in the final set. NNU would cut it to 12-10, but that was as close as they would come as the Wolves took the frame 15-11 to win the match.
Caroline McMahon had 18 digs and
Sarah Lyons added six blocks at the net.
Three Nighthawks had double-digit kills, with Giles at 11 and
Miya Koch and
Abby Black recording 10 apiece.
Megan MacKinney and
Helen Sullivan also combined for seven of NNU's nine aces, registering four and three, respectively.
NNU hits the road next week for a single match, visiting Central Washington on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
